Julian Assange's Extradition Hearing Resumes Friday

By coleen rowley - Posted on 10 February 2011

I just got this e-mail update from London from a Catholic Worker activist there who's organizing another street vigil outside Julian Assange's extradition hearing when it recommences tomorrow (Friday Feb 11) next to Belmarsh Prison in London. I'm taking some liberties in editing but essentially I got inspired by what Ciaron O'Reilly writes:

The two great anti-war show trials of our "Iraq/Afghanistan War" era continue apace. But 10 years into these wars on Iraq and Afghanistan, the persecutions of Bradley Manning and Julian Assange could mark a similar turning point as witnessed with the prosecutions of anti-war resistors during Vietnam: the "Chicago 8"; "Catonsville 9" ; the "Harrisburg Conspiracy" and the "Pentagon Papers".

The Swedish extradition farce serves merely as a sideshow and holding action while reports swirl of the U.S. Attorney General working on a secret grand jury indictment of Assange. This could likely be facilitated through a kind of plea bargain offered to Manning, after months of softening him up through abusive solitary confinement & sensory deprivation in the Quantico, Virginia Marine Brig. The British government did its best to put Assange also in solitary (and off-line) in December but it only worked for a few days. They presently have Assange electronically tagged and curfewed.

Bradley Manning and Julian Assange have bet their lives on the assumption that if only people in the countries (U.S., U.K., Australia, Ireland , et.al) prosecuting these illegal wars, invasions and occupations KNEW the truth, they would be compelled to act against, or at least discuss, the wars! Well, the jury is still out on that one, as (with a few honorable exceptions) Bradley and Julian have largely been hung out to dry by the human rights, church, liberal media bureaucrats, authoritarian left and @ scene in England.

(Above photo shows London Catholic Workers reading a Litany of the Afghan Civilian and British Military War Dead outside the extradition hearing of WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange.)

On Monday February 7, 2011, at the Woolwich Court (conveniently located next to the infamous Category A Belmarsh Prison...most probably connected by a trap door under the dock), the world's media were assembled, private and state security deployed. The Catholic Workers rocked up, establishing a shrine comprised of images of the Afghani and Iraqi war dead and three men who may spend the rest of their days incarcerated for opposing these wars on the poor.

*Shaker Aamer, a Saudi-born London resident, husband and father of four Londoners, the only British resident remaining in Guantanamo . The only British resident to be tortured with a British agent in the room.

Reading out a litany of the dead, the names of Afghan civilians and British troops killed in the war, the true nature of which Julian Assange & WikiLeaks have exposed and Bradley Manning is accused of exposing. Folks from "WikiLeaks London Support", "Justice for Assange" and other folks boosted numbers to around 30 max at the court opposed to the extradition and judicial farce. A dissident member of the U.S. military turned up in civvies, but turned away when there was no large crowd to blend into.

The police inspector approached me on the second day, kind of concerned and incredulous, saying: "Where is everyone?"

"Maybe they are all in cyberspace, maybe the English peace movement is dead in the arse, maybe people don't like Julian because he's a hippy kid. Maybe they don't like him because he's Australian, or too blunt, too direct, maybe they're jealous of him? Who knows? Go figure? But they ain't prioritizing mobilizing around a free speech anti-war advocate who's looking at a lifetime in a U.S. gulag or getting shanked once he arrives!"

The cops looked sympathetic, confused and left.

The world's media looked confused and came over to interview me. They were kind of desperate and dateless, anyone else who was up for an interview was trying to get into the court's public gallery-- have you noticed how Brit court public galleries are designed to accomodate the least number of the public?

We will be back at Woolwich Court / Belmarsh Prison on Friday morning Feb 11th as this court case resumes. We'll set up camp by 8 am, court case kicks off at 10 am with closing arguments. We will be joined by Razz (and his guitar) who recently played John Lennon in this great Christmas anti-war youtube hit and also by a British combat veteran of the Iraq war who will join us in reading out the names of the Afghan and British war dead.

I (Ciaron) write this as someone who has spent the last 30+ years being dragged through the courts, cells and jails for anti-war resistance. I'm beat up but upbeat. I'm pissed off but not depressed. I'm tired but not out of ideas. I'm hoping that this piece stimulates debate and fast. I'm not risking a life buried alive in the American gulag like whoever released this footage hoping to stimulate a broader debate about the wars. Or Julian Assange for circulating it.

Please consider joining us in solidarity with Bradley, Julian, Shaker and the people of Iraq and Afghanistan who remain in the firing line. Join us here or make a public statement there where you are.

Be there or be square or be anywhere! Free Julian Assange! Free Bradley Manning! Free Speech! End the War!

Thank you Coleen for helping to spread information about Shaker Aamer, Bradley Manning, and Julian Assange. If we are to have a society of laws we have to treat people with respect and afford them the protections of law that have been evolved over many generations and have only been gained via the struggles of many individuals. Sharer Aamer should be freed from Guatanamo as he has been detained since February 2002 and has never been charged with any offence and he was cleared for release in 2007. In fact he should be able to sue for having been kidnapped, for having been detained so long and for having been tortured. Those who enabled, encouraged, ordered, or participated in these actions against Sharer Aamer should be prosecuted. When embarrassing and or illegal actions are being hidden from public view it is important that we have whistle blowers and a media conduit to get hidden information out to the public. If Bradley Manning is indeed the source of the released video of the helicopter shoot out he should be seen as a hero who has put himself in danger because he wanted a better world. He should be released from Quantico. The soldiers who killed innocent individuals and those who sent them to do so should be prosecuted. Julian Assange should be afforded the same protections as any other journalist. The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled in the case of Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers the release to and printing of secret documents by the media is legal.

Julian Assange should be afforded the same protections as any other journalist. The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled in the case of Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers the release to and printing of secret documents by the media is legal.

If the media is aware of proof of crimes being covered up and the media doesn't report this evidence, then the media will be complicit with the criminals. It's a crime to cover up a crime.

It can't be a crime to expose a crime.

The government has no right, legal or moral, to commit crimes. The government that commits crimes and covers them up commits additional crimes. People aware of these crimes have a legal and moral duty to expose these crimes and the guilty parties.

In the US, the government is supposed to be accountable to the people, population, so it logically can't be a crime to expose government crimes and criminals to the population. If the government is supposed to be accountable to the population, then this is the whole government, including the Justice Department and Supreme Court.

If the Supreme Court pretends that it can make it illegal for citizens or people to expose government crimes and mal-doings, as well as incompetence, to the population, then the Supreme Court is roguish and criminal.

Certain government documents evidently should or must not be made public for the sake of national security, but this can't include proof of governments crimes.

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